Tanaya Lake, Yosemite National Park, July 25th

There are lakes like this in Utah, but you have to hike a long way to reach them. In Yosemite National Park, you can drive right up to them on the Tioga Road. It's so beautiful up there. The road is closed for almost half the year. It was so interesting to see evidence of the receding lake level by looking at the lines of pine pollen left on the rocks. We found the perfect, isolated picnic table where it felt like we practically had the lake to ourselves. The view was simply the best.

Wildflowers on Tioga Road, Yosemite National Park, July 25th

Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, July 24th

Salinas River Near Gonzales, California- July 23rd

Near Marina State Beach California Sunset July 22nd

Lover's Point Beach CA-- July 22nd

 

Near Marina State Beach, California Morning, July 22nd

Tony Grove Lake

This is the second of two posts for today.

We drove the hour and a half up to Logan with a plan to spend the night at a hotel and then drive up Logan Canyon to see wildflowers in the morning. The highlight would be to spend time at Tony Grove Lake, a place we enjoyed visiting a few years ago. Franklin Basin was recommended as the best place to see wildflowers, so we went there first. 

We enjoyed a couple of hours in the basin, but were really looking forward to having a picnic and walking around the Tony Grove area. It's a seven-mile drive up a side road from the main canyon road. 

We arrived at the lake at about 10:30 AM. Unfortunately, just as we pulled up, an attendant with a clip board told us the parking lot was completely full. There are "no parking" signs all up the road, so I had no idea what to do. One guy stood in the center of a recently-emptied spot to save it for someone else. Hardly anyone was leaving. Cars were ahead and behind us looking for places to park.

Online, I'd seen the price to park there for the day was only three dollars, and we had twelve, so I wasn't worried about payment. Unfortunately, my information was outdated. I noticed they were charging fifteen dollars for day use. I hoped they'd take a credit card. I hoped a spot would open up. It didn't look like that was going to happen.

"Where do you recommend parking?" I asked the attendant.

"Any side road that doesn't have a fee area sign," she said, "But I've been telling that to the last fifty cars, so good luck." 

We drove around a bit, but I hadn't seen any side road except one that looked private and was quite a ways downhill. I was upset. It was discouraging because this was supposed to be the highlight of the trip. I couldn't just leave and go home.

So my husband dropped me off. He said he'd come back in fifteen minutes. 

I walked to the lake to take a couple of quick pictures. It was so beautiful. I saw a few empty picnic tables in great spots in the shade. I felt lonely, sad, and very disappointed. But then, I realized I couldn't walk away from the experience I wanted. I felt determined to figure out a way to do what we planned.

I walked back to the attendant and asked more questions. It turned out they didn't accept credit cards, only cash or check. I had sufficient of neither. So even if a spot opened up, we wouldn't be able to park there. I started walking toward the parking lot exit, hoping to see a side road downhill somewhere.

Just then, my husband returned to pick me up. He said the only side road he saw was the one that we thought was a private road. So down we went. A few other cars were parked not far from the main road, but I wanted to see if it was private property. We drove a little further on that road and discovered it ended in a parking lot for a camping area and day use area for people with horse trailers. There were a lot of cars there and there were no parking fees!  

We parked closer to the main road, packed up our lunch stuff in a back pack and a bag as best we could, and headed up walking on the main road.

Our walk was amazing. The wildflowers by the side of the road were enchanting. There was a cool breeze despite no shade. Every time a car came either direction, we tried to step to the shoulder, but there weren't too many cars and most of them went to the other side of the road for us. It took us only fifteen minutes to walk up the road. We figured we saved a dollar a minute by parking downhill. We still had plenty of energy by the time we arrived.

Fortunately, there was still a picnic table open with a spot of shade, perfect for the two of us. After lunch, we walked around the lake, just as planned. 

I was so happy.

 

When we were done, walking back down to our car was not a problem even though it was warmer and there were more cars going up and down the road. On the way, we talked about how it felt good to do things despite difficult circumstances. We could handle them thanks to our positive circumstances like having energy, good health, and time.

It was totally worth it.

Even though parking down the hill worked out for us, if I were giving advice about visiting the area, I'd say go early and bring $15 cash. Also, I imagine it's less busy on a weekday.